Embrace the man purse
Dear Answer Angel Ellen:
My husband, while intelligent and successful, is the most disorganized person I know. His brother, equally disorganized, and at the suggestion of his wife, now carries a “murse” — a purse for men.
On a recent trip to Ireland, every single day my husband struggled finding his reading glasses, his sunglasses, his passport, car keys, notepad, etc. Men have it so easy as they really don’t have many things to take with them. My question is, can men wear a small crossbody bag? It needs to be small, as the small backpack he tried to use in Ireland was, it was still way too big for the everyday items he needed to carry.
—Regina J.
Dear Regina: Yes, men can wear them! And they are definitely back in a big way for men (and women too). There are loads of men’s crossbody bags in many sizes at every price point from, say $29.99 for a microfiber Carhartt (carhartt.com, amazon. com) to leather models for $2,500 and even more.
It seems everybody is getting into the men’s bag racket including
Prada, Valentino Garavani ($3,600!), Gucci, Burberry, Balenciaga and on and on. There are loads of styles, including unisex, which would work for everyone so you should have no trouble finding one that would suit your husband at a price that suits you.
Old habits die hard though, so don’t be surprised if your husband wants nothing to do with a “murse.” But if you avoid
that term and show him photos of the wide array of choices online and in stores — and how they look terrific on those handsome male models — maybe he’ll go for it.
A little while ago, you wrote about a purse-size backpack that you purchased after stopping a woman on the street and asking about hers. I too have been looking for a purse-size backpack for quite some time, unsuccessfully. Would you share some information about the one you bought? I would love to look into it for myself.
—Halina H.
Dear Answer Angel Ellen:
I’m always happy to help! It’s my job. The item you’re looking for is the Travelon Anti-theft Signature Slim Backpack (amazon.com and travelonbags.com, $75). Since this is designed for travel, it has all sorts of anti-theft features like lock zipper pockets, slash-resistant straps and body and RFID blocking, all of which I
Dear Halina:
didn’t really care much about.
I’ve discovered that there are too many pockets for me so I have trouble finding which place I put stuff. But if you are better organized than I am (who isn’t?) it might be just what you want. It holds my iPad fine if I don’t cram the backpack with too many other things that I really don’t need.
I wrote about it to illustrate what you can learn by stopping someone on the street and asking where they bought what they are wearing.
I still firmly urge shoppers to do that. And don’t get me wrong. I like this bag a lot. I’m just ridiculously fussy.
Target has the “mini puff dome” backpack in black in store or online for $25, which might be a good alternative for you.